White House Calls Police Shootings of Black Men ‘a Local Matter’

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President Donald Trump has encouraged police officers to be rougher on suspects they arrest. He has deployed federal authorities to stem gun violence in Chicago. And he has repeatedly called for police nationwide to implement tough-on-crime policies.

President Donald Trump speaks about the spending bill during a press conference in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House on March 23, 2018. (Credit: Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images)

But when it comes to the deaths of black men at the hands of police, Trump believes those incidents are a “local matter” that “should be left up to the local authorities,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday.

“Certainly a terrible incident,” Sanders said when asked about the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Stephon Clark in California. “This is something that is a local matter and that’s something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities at this point in time.”

Pressed about the national implications of the cases and the national outcry that has sounded out in the wake of numerous police shootings of black men in recent years, Sanders stood by her comments.

“Certainly, we want to make sure that all law enforcement is carrying out the letter of the law. The President is very supportive of law enforcement, but at the same time in these specific cases and these specific instances, those will be left up to the local authorities,” Sanders said.

Sanders then pivoted to the President’s economic and security policies that she said are aimed at benefiting all Americans, including recent policies aimed at boosting school safety in the wake of the Parkland mass shooting.

“I think we should do every single thing we can every single day to protect the people of this country,” Sanders said. “Whether they’re black, white, Hispanic, male or female, rich or poor, we look for ways to protect individuals in this country, particularly children.”